How to Cut a Green Pepper

Probably 8-10 years ago I was watching a random TV cooking show--I'm pretty sure it was a South African show--and I saw the chef cut a green/bell pepper (or do you say capsicum?) in a way that just made so much sense. Ever since I've cut my peppers this way and it makes a huge difference. 

Enough people have passed through my kitchen and said, "Wow! How did you do that so quickly?" that I decided to share 'my' method here.

First grab a pepper--green, red or yellow and set it on your cutting board.

Cut off each end. You want to end up with a bell pepper tunnel.

Next, take your knife and cut down one side of the pepper tunnel.

Then run your knife along the inside of the pepper to sever the membrane that holds the seeds onto the pepper.

You'll end up with a cute seed bundle and a long pepper strip. 

It's easiest if you cut that one long strip into two pieces so they can lay more flat.

Cut the pepper into thin strips, or in a fancier terms: julienne the pepper

Turn your strips and cut in the other direction--you'll end up with a nice dice.

Easy peesy!!

Do you have any tricks in the kitchen?

Cooking the Old Fashioned Way

So, rembember last year when the electric company threatened that we would have no power for 20 days during the day? and then we had it anyway? Well, they've done it again! Only this time it was a promise, and they followed through. 

The crazy thing is that they are doing this work during rainy season when we lose power frequently anyway due to storms and rainy conditions. So, we are not only losing power when a storm hits, or when there isn't enough power to go around. Now, we lose it three days a week. I did a guest post yesterday about one of the blessings we can draw from this experience. Go ahead and read it if you didn't get a chance yet. 

A brazier

Things got a bit worse though last week when we ran out of gas for our stove. Add to this that the bakery that supplies our bread is dependent on the same power source as we are. We were faced with rationing the bread in case we couldn't get some for a while.

Our solar ovens also haven't worked well during the rains. We'll be glad to get back to using them in a few months, but for now they're packed away.

The evening we ran out of gas I decided on a nice, one-pot lentil dish for dinner. When your 'stove' is a pile of coals in a flimsy metal dish, you want to limit your pots.

I prepped all the ingredients in the kitchen before carrying them out to the porch on a tray. I felt all fancy as I laid out my mise en place. (And, yes I had to Google how to spell that.)

Waiting for the coals to be just right is probably the hardest part because putting a large pot on top too soon could put out the fire and stop the heat. The holes in the side of the brazier do help to keep oxygen flowing somewhat. Once I put the pot on top I just had to keep stirring from time to time to prevent burning. If the coals seemed to be cooling, I would remove the pot and taking the brazier by its handle I would swing it from side to side like an altar boy with incense--only harder and faster--to shake off the ashes and add oxygen to the fire.

Then we spent the evening waiting and relaxing. I didn't get any pictures of the finished product because it was quite late and dark before we ate. And, as delicious as the lentils (with rice) were, they weren't exactly photogenic. 

God has been good to us during this time of energy (all types) shortages. He's been giving me a clear mind during working hours so I'm actually getting a fair amount of work done. Thanks for all the prayers and kind words you've been sending my way. You make me smile!

Exactly Two Years Ago: You Just Never Know --if you ever struggle with your bank read this.

Sun Kissed Bread

Last week I told you about our solar ovens. We are just as excited as can be about using our sun ovens because now we've learned how to make bread in them. 

Can you imagine? Eating bread that cost you only what you had to spend on ingredients? It's like magic!

Our friend Gail was part of the team of volunteers that came out in July. Her special project with us was to teach us how to bake bread using whole wheat. To accomplish this, she brought with her a home mill and a Bosch mixer.

We bought a 50 lb sack of whole wheat and within minutes the mill had produced fluffy flour with every last bit of the grain included. No sifting out the bran, no chunky bits. It was bread-ready in what seemed like mere moments.

During the month that Gail was here she baked scores of loaves of bread--all different types--and they were so delicious. After she left, we had trouble with the transporter who brings our gas bottles from Lusaka so we quit baking to conserve energy. Now with solar ovens at our disposal we were raring to go!

Trouble was, we had forgotten exactly how Gail had done the process. I've baked bread before but my process involved a lot of kneading and adding flour. The beauty of the Bosch mixer is you can work with a much softer dough for better results.

Tom and I got started one morning using the cookbook Gail left behind. I handed him ingredients and he dumped them in. At the end we had a very soft gloopy dough. I admit to crying a bit at this point. Not knowing what else to do, we put them in the baking pans, left them to rise and then when the dough had doubled in size we put them in the sun ovens.

After an hour, the bread had risen even more and looked good. We used a matchstick to create a gap between the glass and rubber seal to let out some of the moisture (which slows down the heat by stopping some of the reflectivity), but it looks like we may need a bigger matchstick.

For some reason the bread didn't come out perfectly. We had 2 loaves in each of two of the ovens and 1 in another. The single loaf came out alright. The others had height and tasted OK, but the tops had sunk in.

We were a little disappointed. We even left two of the loaves in for over 4 hours trying to get them to turn out better. They were definitely more cooked but still didn't have that lovely domed top.

The bread tasted so good we were determined to give it a try the next day. This time, after we added all the ingredients, we let the mixer keep going for 5 more minutes. We then left the bread in the bowl to rise for 30 minutes, patted it into five loaves, set them in bread pans and let them rise a second time for 30 minutes. The bread felt much better as I worked with it and when it had risen the second time, the tops were gloriously high.

We also angled our ovens a bit better to catch more rays and only placed one loaf in each oven at a time. After only 2 hours the bread had baked perfectly!

We're kinda bad scientists because we changed so many variables at once so we don't know what didn't work, but we sure know what did work. Take a look at the fruit of our labors! And, remember, this is from solar energy! Free energy! Can't beat that!

Exactly One Year Ago: Fab Friday Foto--Mofwe Lagoon sunset

Baby, It's Hot Outside

It seems like, for the past couple months, every other Facebook entry was talking about this unusually hot summer everyone has been experiencing. We haven't been experiencing quite the same heat wave since we have winter this time of year. But, since we can swim year-round the sun is our constant companion for better or worse. 

One of our biggest goals as orphanage directors is to find ways to keep our operating costs down and provide the most reliable services. Up until recently our options for cooking were electric or natural gas energy. Many times the electricity was out or too low a current to operate an electric stove. Natural gas is a natural (sorry) solution, but the only problem is that we have to bring the bottles up from Lusaka. We have a transporter that we work with, but he is not always reliable. Our final option is charcoal but this is a serious cause of deforestation in this country and we really try to avoid using this option.

One compact package

Tom has been researching using solar energy and has even worked on his own design but found it difficult to come up with the raw materials. This was why he got very excited when he found a company called Sun Ovens. They are a small company that builds portable solar ovens that are affordable. The ovens are so portable that they can be taken on as luggage on a plane. That's how we got them over here. Our latest team brought them with them as check in luggage.

Very portable for packing,carrying & storing when not in use.

I was skeptical, but like a good wife I listened and supported Tom in this new idea. Then, after we had ordered the ovens and were just waiting for the team to bring them over, I came across an email with a link to this blog post. I got very excited about the possibilities. Tom just rolled his eyes and said, "But that's what I've been telling you for months". I guess I had to hear it from a woman. LOL

  

We ordered pots and bread tins with our ovens and all that packed right into the oven for easy transport.

It's fun to have these space-age looking contraptions sitting in our driveway.

The oven gets up to between 300 and 350 degrees (Fahrenheit) after just 30-60 minutes in the sun

 

 

Our first 'meal' was a vegetable stew. We threw a few veggies and some beef stock into the little pots and within a few hours everything was cooked and delicious. There is a bit more work involved with a solar oven than in using a crock pot or slow cooker since the sun oven needs to be moved every 30 minutes for optimum heat but, as Tom says, "The food tastes better when it's free".

I've cooked chicken, curries, soups, lentils, cakes and more in the sun oven. My cakes still need tweaking (remember the Dr. Suess cake?), but I'm looking forward to the experimenting and practicing. I'll let you know how things go.

Do you think you would ever consider using a solar oven? I never thought I would, but this is an exciting chapter in the Adventure of My Life.

Sun Ovens is not paying for this review. We did get a non-profit discount, but this review is completely my own opinion because I simply LOVE saving money.

I Cook for Handkerchiefs

Last weekend, Mary at Owlhaven, in doing a giveaway, asked what people first remembered cooking. 

I don't remember what the first thing I ever cooked was. I remember being really young and cooking with my grandma who had, of all things, wall to wall carpeting--including the kitchen. One time I was visiitng her and we were cooking something--probably a cake--when I dropped a raw egg on to the floor. Boy, was she angry!! 

But, the memory I wanted to share with you took place in India. We had just moved to a new city and while we looked for housing, all of us stayed in this hostel. It was one large room that all eight of us stayed in, and there was a large bathroom/dressing room. We used the dressing room to cook in. We didn't' have a whole lot to do and so, probably for this reason, my mom had me start doing a lot of the cooking. I was eleven years old. She asked me to make the menus and plan the meals. 

I've written before how I loved playing house as a child but most of my play centered around keeping the house organized. I made lists and menus and plans on paper. By the time I had gotten my family in order, I would lose interest in it and move on to another imaginary family.

When I began making menus for my family I told my mom that it was much more interesting make pretend menus. In pretend menus you can cook anything you like. In real-life menus you have to be concerned with budgets and seasons and all those mundane details. It was a really good learning experience for me.

What I remember cooking the most at this time was a soy product (TVP) that had to be rehydrated when it was cooked. They were little dry chunks that look like dried out chicken nuggets. You cook them with hot liquid--often some sort of broth to give them flavor--and they get kinda spongy. They are inexpensive and nutritious. We use this a lot here in Zambia as a staple in our menu.  You can learn more about TVP here.

Anyway, back to my memories. I don't know if soy products were new to the Indian market or if this particular company was doing a promotion, but every little box of TVP came with a handkerchief. All six of us kids would take turns getting to keep the little handkerchief. We must have eaten a ton of this soy stuff because I remember that each of us had several handkerchiefs. 

Maintaining our collections was a big deal. We could let them get all wrinkly so we learned the best way to keep our handkerchiefs looking pristine was too get them wet and then plaster them to the mirror. As they dried, they would fall off, stiff as a board but so smooth and wrinkle free. Incidentally, we did this with stamps we collected too.

I don't know what else I cooked at that time, that memory has faded, but learning to cook so young set me on a path of enjoyment in the kitchen. I'm grateful my parents trusted me to play an important role in helping out my family.

Sundays in My City--A Royal Wedding (Cake)

We planned our Royal Wedding party for weeks. The menu was planned, the guests were invited, the events planned. Then! Disaster! No guests showed up.
Ah well, the show must go on. And at least the most important element was there.

The Cake!

I first saw this cake on Pioneer Woman's website and followed the link to a most amazing tutorial. Just wait until you see the surprise inside.

Jasmine and I worked hard on the cake for 2 days. It was and is wonderful to work side by side with my lovely daughter and see her develop into such an amazing young woman.

Tim just has to ham it up for the camera

My boys wanted to get in on the action. Can someone tell me how they got to be so huge?

And here is the inside of the cake. So much fun to have that exciting view inside a plain white cake.

You can go here for the tutorial but very quickly, here is how we did it. We baked two red velvet layers, and two white layers and then placed them on top of each other straight out of the oven. This created one tall layer. Next we used a bowl and a cup to cut concentric circles out of each cake. We ended up with two rings and a center circle from each cake.

After cutting them out, we alternated rings and then stacked the two cakes on top of each other. This gave us the checkerboard effect rather than just the vertical stripes.

After frosting the cake with a crumb layer and letting that chill a bit, we piped over 5 cups of buttercream icing in a 'rose' pattern all over the cake. I say 'rose' because seriously we had no idea what we were doing.

But, I think it turned out all right? Don't you? It tasted fantastic too!

And since we had no guests, we all ate a TON of cake. 

I'm linked up with Unknown Mami's Sunday's In My City. Click on the button to see fun happening around the world.

Saturday Sweetness

My fifteen year old daughter is becoming quite the baker. Nearly every day she rustles up something delicious. From Instant Yummy (homemade chocolate pudding, so not exactly instant but definitely yummy) to individual Lemon Cheesecakes with Apricot topping, she makes amazing desserts!

Marbled Cheesecake Brownies

This is wonderful news for the world--she has thoughts of one day opening her own business---

Superbowl Cupcakes--made 'just because' in April

....but not so good news for my waistline. I'd need to work out about 3 hours a day to balance out all this deliciousness.

That cupcake above is a peanut butter cupcake topped with fluffy frosting and caramel popcorn. Remember, there are no mixes out here. Every last step was done by hand.

Exactly One Year Ago: Fab Friday Foto XVIII

Delicious Doings

Our garden is doing really well. After a lot of trial and error we found out that our garden loves to grow squashes. We have 2 foot long zucchinis--trying to teach the gardener to pick earlier, buckets and buckets of eggplant, gem squash, and butternuts. They grow so well. 

Since the zucchini was picked a bit late it doesn't taste as good. When I got back from the States I found out that the kids were being served zucchini or eggplant every day. The cook was  simply cutting it into cubes and boiling it. Not the most appetizing way to serve it. I suggested that she grate the zucchini and mix it in with their meat sauce. Thursday the kids sat down at the table and exclaimed, "Look! No zucchini!" and then proceeded to eat everything on their plates and ask for seconds. Little did they know the zucchini was hiding in their meat dish. Aren't we devious?

On Saturday afternoon I got bit by the bug. I suddenly had to cook! Not that I don't cook often (we  all take turns) but I wanted to do more than standard dinner fare.

I decided to roast 10 eggplants for babaganoush.* Then while they were in the oven I grated 6 cups of zucchini for bread and muffins. As I was making that batter, Jasmine came in and asked if we could make roasted vegetable muffins. For sure! We began roasting the vegetables for those and then discovered we needed pesto. Darn. No pesto! Wait! We have basil in the garden. Hooray. 

Jasmine dashed off to the computer to find a recipe, and then went the extra mile to find one that used peanuts rather than pine nuts.

While gathering basil leaves from our two little plants, I looked over and saw our lovely bushes of cilantro. A lightbulb went off and I decided to make cilantro pesto as well. 

basil pesto--left, cilantro pesto--right

I'm seriously in love with pesto now. So easy to make, and delicious in everything! I've put it on crackers, spread it on a grilled cheese sandwich, stirred it into lentils one night and chicken soup the next.

Pesto done, we worked on the vegetable muffins. We had to do a lot of tweaking. No mozzarella cheese--so we used cheddar. Decided to use cilantro pesto rather than basil. No feta cheese--more cheddar. 

For vegetables we used carrots, onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and zucchini. Tremendous!

These were seriously some of the best muffins I've ever eaten. They had a pizza-y taste to them. There was a hint of sweet cornbread to them as well.

Roasted Vegetable Muffins
 from Celebrating Cupcakes and Muffins**

Makes 12 muffins

Roasted vegetables:

1 cup assorted vegetables

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Salt, to taste

Black pepper, to taste

Dried rosemary, thyme, or oregano, to taste

Toss vegetables with oil and seasonings and then roast (on a lined cookie sheet) for 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven until cooked and/or golden.

Muffins:

3 oz. butter

1 large egg

1 cup whole milk

1 cup mozzarella (or whichever) cheese

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or grated cheddar if you live in Africa)

1/4 cup pesto sauce

• In a medium bowl, lightly whisk together butter, egg, and milk. Gently fold in cheese until just combined.
• In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
• Fold flour mixture into egg mixture just until blended.
• Spoon two-thirds of the batter into greased muffin cups (or use silicone ones like I did) filling each cup about one-third full.
• Top with half the roasted vegetables and all the (feta) cheese and pesto.
• Add remaining batter and vegetables. 
• Bake for about 20 minutes at 350, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
• Transfer pan to a wire rack and let the muffins cool for about 15 minutes. 
• Serve warm. I dare you to wait any longer! 

* I didn't really follow a specific recipe for the babaganoush so I've just linked the search page. Plus, we didn't really care for it much. Win some, lose some.

** I'm not an Amazon affiliate.

Chai and More

We adopted a new little baby into our household. No, not Joshua. Although it looks like God might be working it out for him to join us soon. More about this later.

Our newest baby is from the feline family. She is so sweet and loves to crawl all over the teenagers while they do their schoolwork.

Poor little kitten has an eye infection and seems to be too young to have left her mom. We're putting drops in her eyes and also feeding her with a syringe. She has the tiniest, yet amazingly loud, meow.

Meet Chai. Her name reminds me of my time in India, and one of my favorite drinks. It also sounds Asian and I think Asian names are good for cats.

There are many, many versions of chai but I will share mine with you today. It is courtesy of Expanding the Table.--My all-time favorite cookbook.

Chai: Steep 3 tea bags in 5 cups of boiling water in a saucepan. Add 1 and a half cups of milk and spices (1 whole cinnamon stick, 5 cloves, 3 cardomoms--crushed a bit). Stir in 1/3-2/3 cups of sugar depending on the intensity of your sweet tooth. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bags. Serve through a tea strainer into your prettiest tea cups. 

We introduced Chai to Moriah (2), Nathan (2) and Peter (18 mos.) today. 

Nathan especially enjoyed her. He wanted to keep pulling her tiny tail.

I love having animals around for the kids. I think it teaches them compassion--occasional tail pulling notwithstanding.

Many of you have asked, after Monday's post, how you can help the orphanage. We have several ways that you can donate if you would like to do that. All donations made to our charity,  Global Contributions, are tax-deductible. The Sponsorship page at our Kazembe Orphanage website will give you all the details. 

Also, if you look up at the right-hand corner of this blog, you can see see a Donate button. That gives you the opportunity to send a tax-deductible donation using Paypal.

We've already had a few responses to Monday's post and for that we are incredibly grateful. We still have a ways to go to reach our goals. I will share more this week or next about how things are going on this front.

In the meantime, we'll keep loving the babies we have--every single one.